100 hidden gnomes

Developer: Anatoliy Loginovskikh | Publisher: Anatoliy Loginovskikh | Release Date: 2020 | Genre: Casual / Hidden Object / Indie | Website: N/A | Purchase: Steam

Garden gnomes are usually meant to be decorative little statues tucked away in flowerbeds, lawns, or the occasional suspiciously overgrown corner of someone’s yard. 100 Hidden Gnomes takes this idea underground by placing its gnome hunt inside what appears to be a monochrome mine filled with platforms, ladders, machinery, and lots of tiny bearded figures waiting to be clicked. As the title suggests, the goal is simply to find all 100 hidden gnomes.

100 Hidden Gnomes is part of Anatoliy Loginovskikh’s long-running “100 hidden” series of casual hidden object games. These games generally present players with one large hand-drawn illustration and ask them to find 100 specific creatures or objects. In this case, the objects are gnomes, although “hidden” might be a bit generous. Unlike 100 Hidden Snails, where the surreal line art helped the snails blend into the bizarre background, the gnomes here stand out much more clearly. In fact, we managed to find all 100 one after the other with exactly 100 clicks, which says a lot about the difficulty.

The gameplay is as simple as it gets. Players scroll up and down the monochrome illustration and click on every gnome they spot. There are no timers, hints, penalties, mini-games, or additional modes to complicate matters. Once a gnome has been found, it counts toward the total, and each discovery unlocks a Steam achievement. This means players will see a steady stream of achievement notifications if they are playing with the Steam overlay enabled.

The game also allows players to reset their progress if they want to play again, which is handy considering how quickly the entire experience is over. According to the store page, pressing “Del” followed by “Esc” resets all achievements, while pressing “N” activates night mode. This feature is easy to miss unless players read the instructions, but the darker visual mode is a neat little extra, even if it does not fundamentally change the experience.

Visually, 100 Hidden Gnomes uses a black-and-white line-drawing style with no shading. The illustration scrolls vertically and appears to depict some type of underground mine or dungeon-like setting packed with gnomes. The artwork is clean enough, but it lacks the surreal charm of 100 Hidden Snails. That game’s strange doodle style gave the search a bit more personality and made some of the snails harder to distinguish from the chaotic background. Here, the gnomes are generally easy to identify, and the lack of shading or visual complexity means there is very little challenge in spotting them.

This is not necessarily a fatal flaw, as 100 Hidden Gnomes is very cheap and clearly aimed at players looking for a quick, casual diversion. However, even by the standards of the genre, this one is extremely short. We completed the whole thing in about a minute or two, which makes it one of those games that will appeal primarily to players who want to pad their completion rating or unlock a quick batch of achievements. Anyone looking for a more substantial hidden object experience will almost certainly be disappointed.

The audio is basic and does little to stand out. Since the game can be finished so quickly, this is not a major issue, but there is nothing here that adds much atmosphere or personality to the experience. Controls are equally simple, with everything handled via mouse clicks and scrolling. For this type of game, that is all that is required.

Overall, 100 Hidden Gnomes is difficult to recommend as anything other than a very quick achievement hunt. It does exactly what it promises by hiding 100 gnomes in a monochrome illustration, but it offers almost no challenge and can be completed in less time than it takes to make a cup of tea. Compared to 100 Hidden Snails, which at least had a more surreal art style and snails that blended into the scenery, this one feels far too easy. Still, it is very cheap and harmless, and it might satisfy players looking for an extremely short hidden-object game.